What could be “greener” than mother’s own milk flowing directly into baby from the product distribution centers, usually referred to as breasts? The entire process is self-contained in each mother—factory, packaging, warehouse, transportation, and delivery system. Only 500 kcal per day are needed to fuel this entire system.

In contrast, artificial infant milks require careful maintenance of animals or plants, equipment to collect the animal or plant resource that is used, and factories for manufacturing the actual product. The product then requires packaging both of individual units and bundles of numerous units, transportation, storage and space in a distribution center. The milk delivery system, such as infant feeding bottles and silicone nipples also require factories using natural and synthetic resources for their manufacture, followed by packaging, transporting, storage and distribution. All aspects of the bottle-feeding process results in the emission of greenhouse gases—dairy cows produce methane and carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases are a byproduct of the manufacturing and packaging processes for an artificial infant milk and its delivery system products, and the trucks or trains used to transport the products all emit some type of exhaust fumes. And we haven’t even touched on the subject of what happens to the waste products of manufacturing, packaging, transportation, storage, distribution, etc.!

In honor of the United Nations World Environment Day on June 5^th, the Malta Breastfeeding Foundation developed an amazing presentation about the differences for the environment among infant feeding methods. It is called “Infant Feeding Affects Climate Change,” and they have made the presentation available for (free) download. Presentation graphics can help get the point across to your colleagues, health professionals, friends, partners and in-laws!

And while we’re on the topic… Every day there are more gizmos and gadgets marketed as “must haves” to women breastfeeding their babies. Yet women have breastfed for tens of thousands of years without these gadgets, which also require a place for their manufacture, some type of packaging, transportation, storage, distribution, and elimination of packaging and eventually the product itself. Most of us even carry around a breast pump at the end of our arms—called hands, which have been used by women throughout the millennia to obtain milk for an occasional “relief” feeding.